The fight is tomorrow, and I still have no idea how to handle it. I’ve considered counters, attacking weak points, and even the possibility of tricking him out of the ring, but I’ve not been left confident that any of those strategies would work. I realized that my main disadvantage going into this fight was that I’ve never seen my opponent in action before. If I hinge too much on any one strategy and he counters it, my loss will be all but decided.

I asked everybody I could think of, even non-combatants, to see if anybody had a useful idea. The only one I received was from Juire.

“If you don’t know enough to think of something yourself, then just learn more about him. I hear he’s been spotted in the woods to the west.” He said before shuffling me out

He seemed to be busy, and many people were bustling about in his office. I hope they aren’t scamming people again. It’s already hard enough to justify why I’m working with them to Kiel.

Considering I was out of all other ideas I followed his advice and went to the western forest to look for the Kolossaal. At first, I had trouble doing so, considering the sheer size of the forest, but before much time had passed I found a trail of destruction leading away from the city.

This is either a path towards the person I’m looking for… or another vicious beast that I’m not sure I can handle.

Realizing the risk I move cautiously forward, moving as stealthily as I can. I activate Clear at about half power to help obscure me without eating through my MP.

sigh

I breathe a sigh of relief when my target comes into sight, and it’s not some horrid monster.

The Kolossaal is sitting in a flower field eating from a massive vat of soup.

growl

It looks delicious.

“Ah.” He lets out as he drops his spoon

SWOOSH!

“AAAAHHHH!” He yells out as he accidentally pours his soup trying to pick up the spoon

growl

I can’t help but feel a bit sad as I watch the gallon and gallons of soup pour onto the flowers.

I’ve been thinking this for a while… but he’s a bit of a clutz, isn’t he?

SIGH “I better go get some more.” He says to himself as he wipes the soup from his clothes

Now that I look a bit closer at him, he is covered in what look to be sewn together rags. His clothes have a myriad of rips and stains in them, and they look to be falling apart at the seems. I wonder why he is wearing such cheap looking clothes?

Amidst my mindless thought about his appearance, I notice a small thumping that seems out of time with the Kolossaals steps. However, before I have time to truly consider the implications of it, the reason is made clear.

“KRYIYAAA!” I hear in a familiar tone that sends a shiver down

From the trees comes stomping out an Orc. Although a different color than the last, still incredibly large with an intimidating atmosphere. Within moments of its screech, it begins its charge towards the Kolossaal.

…Wait. Is it slower than the last one? It seems to be taking ages to reach him.

BAAM!!

Just when I think the Orc is finally going to land its attack, a gruesome sight unfolds. With a single strike, the Kolossaal has shattered the creature’s head. The flowers receive a red rain as the creature falls to its knees and crumples forward.

“Perfect! I was more in the mood for grilled meat anyways!” The Kolossaal says happily as he begins to drag the orc

The beautiful field of flowers, that was pristine up until several moments ago has become a battlefield. The most disturbing thing about the entire situation, however… is that this image hasn’t deterred my appetite in the slightest.

I think it’s time to change my strategy.

“Oiiii! Mind if I join you?” I yell out as I approach

“Hm? WHA?! Wha-What are you doing here?! D-do you plan to fight dirty or something! We-we-we aren’t allowed to fight outside of the ring!” He begins to rattle off in a frantic voice as he drops the orc

I suppose that is how this would look, isn’t it?

“What? Of course not! If I wanted to do that, I could have just attacked you from the shadows!” I yell even as I grow closer

I have no idea whether he can hear me from up there. I feel like I’m constantly trying to talk to someone on the second floor of a building.

“Ah… I suppose that’s true… Then why have you come all the way out here? I-i chose this spot because everybody seems to avoid this area.” He says still somewhat sheepishly

He still doesn’t seem to trust me.

“To be honest, I came out here to hunt that Orc you just beat. I was tailing the thing for a while so I could take it down with less of a fight, but then you beat it before I had the chance.” I say scratching my head

Yeah right. To be honest I just thought that approaching him would get me more information. I doubt any monsters are going to present much of a challenge for him if he can do that to an Orc, and I would rather not watch him cook for several hours. Yup, it’s totally not because he mentioned cooking and eating that delicious looking meat.

“Ah?! I’m so so so sorry! I didn’t mean to steal your kill! Please take it, it’s yours!” He says frantically still as he bows repeatedly

I almost feel bad for spying on this guy. He is so polite… and gullible. He didn’t ask for any kind of proof at all before giving away a powerful monster’s corpse.

“Oh, I couldn’t! You did do all of the work after all, but I happened to overhear that you were planning on cooking it up. Would you mind if I got a little bit of the meat myself?” I ask attempting to stop the drool that is beginning to seep from my mouth

“…” He simply stares at me with a bewildered look for a moment after my question

I’m not mistaken, am I? Sure they have ancestry with giants, but they are still part human right? Are their stomachs less sensitive because of their giant heritage or something?

Instead of answering me however he simply stares blankly at me with a look of disbelief. After a few seconds pass he begins to rub his eyes for some reason before continuing.

“You’re a good person! In that case, let me cook it up, I’ll be quick as lightning!” He says with a happy expression

“Actually, if you could just help me prepare the meat I can do the cooking.” I explain

“Oh… okay.” He lets out with clearly disappointed body language

Clumsy and you can read him like a book. These might actually be really useful hints.

He pulls out a sharp looking rock from a pouch at his side, and I take out a dagger and we begin to skin the Orc. I thought it would take forever considering the size of the creature, but the entire experience is done in roughly and hour. Admittedly I did a lot less than he did, despite the fact that he was only using a crude rock as his tool.

He seems rather used to the experience. Does he typically hunt for his own food?

“Alright! Time to get started cooking!” I say as I roll up my sleeves

“Um… can we at least split the work? We can cook it faster if we do. Besides um… I can work with more meat at a time.” He sheepishly offers as he rubs his neck

Hm? Oooh, I get it. He wasn’t excited to cook the meat, he just didn’t want to wait for me to cook it on a normal sized pan.

“Don’t worry, I can do it all at once.” I say giving a sharp determined nod

Since I won’t be able to use magic in our match anyways, I might as well show off a bit. If he thinks that I’m a mage he might even underestimate me.

As I get ready to cook it, I can only wonder why this one feels different from the previous orc. The meet of the last one looked completely disgusting, but this looks juicy and delicious. It even has this amazing scent to it that wets the appetite.

“Fal-Kei-Tera Earth manipulation!” I yell out as I try to work out the dimensions of my new creation

The last one was made to burn to a crisp, but this one needs to be able to cook the meat all the way to the bone without burning it. That means placing it in fire directly is out of the question.

I begin to gather earth on every side of the orc, attempting to harden chunks so it will form easier when I move the walls into place. I begin by making a chimney for the smoke to exit the oven. I don’t really know whether there is any real benefit of making it tall, but I go ahead and do it anyways just in case. I want this meat to be made right.

After I’m done I start to harden the earth directly beneath the orc continuously until it is as hard and sleek as metal. Once I’m convinced it’s sturdy enough I hollow out an area below it and make tunnels towards the surface all around my masterpiece so supply air.

After that much is complete I raise the walls around the orc forming an igloo-like shape around it. I walk around the outside to make sure there are no cracks or imperfections.

“….W-Wow! That’s amazing! You made me such a big oven! I can cook my meals in one setting with this thing!” The Kolossaal says after staring in befuddled silence for a few moment.

Yes! Be amazing at my orc oven 2.0!

“I’ll go gather some wood to fuel it right away!” He says as he picks up his sharp rock and dashes into the forest

Aaaand there he goes. He left with such enthusiasm that I never even had the chance to stop him. Oh well.

“Fal-Su-Feir Fireball.” I say aloud as I focus on the cavity below the orc

The heat can’t be too high, so I focus hard on regulating the power. Somehow fluctuating the heat to match my needs is even more tiring than making the oven was. When it grows too hot I have to cool it down even below my target temp to let the cooking plate cool off properly. Stopping the flame from going out of control when I raise it, or from going out entirely when I lower it is a trial, to say the least.

“Ah! It’s cooking already?! Did you gather firewood before me too?!” The clumsy oaf says as he drops the large pile of wood he gathered in what seems to have only been a few minutes

“A-actually, I’m using magic to keep it going. This is harder than I thought it was going to be though, so if you could through in some of that wood please… quickly.” I say as I struggle to focus on the flames and him at the same time

Without even responding he quickly begins to fumble with the dropped wood to carry it over to the oven and insert it in the fire cavity.

sigh “Thanks. I bit off more than I could chew.” I say as I wipe the sweat from my brow

“I’d say, I’ve never seen anybody able to do that with magic. I’m glad I didn’t get matched up against you in the third round.” He says as he falls onto his butt and leans backward

Oi, doesn’t that mean that you still plan to win the first round? Even if your confident don’t say that kind of thing to my face!

Feel free to take a break if your struggling! As long as you don’t abandon this project you will be fine XD
As for the chapter interesting interaction there and it does seemed to have panned out for Mano revealing more about her opponents character. Hehe seems the fight will be interesting… good luck Mano 😀